Proverbs 14:5, Faithful or False

August 1, Proverbs 14:5

Matt. 7:15-20 “And from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness” (Rev. 1:5).

Faithful or False

“Truth,” said old Trapp, “must be spoken, however it is taken.” Why? Not merely because “truth is the strongest argument.” Pagan philosophers said as much. Rather, it is because God has built Truth into the foundation of the universe. He is the God of Truth, and holds man answerable (Ps. 15:2; Zech. 8:16). The margin reading of Eph. 4:24 suggests holiness of truth for true holiness. Truth is mighty and also holy because it is most God-like. Jesus, in His High-priestly prayer, simply affirms, Sanctify them through thy truth; thy Word is truth (Jn. 17:17).

1. Truthing It: A faithful witness will not lie. Every Christian should be a true-witness because that person has received a new nature. Surely truth-speaking ought to be one of the evidences of the New-Birth. The Glory of the Gospel is that it can and does make us witnesses to truth. Here’s how a twelve-year-old boy beal. a smart and shrewd lawyer. Walter was the important witness in a lawsuit. One of the lawyers, after cross-examining him ruthlessly, said: “Your father has been telling you how to testify, hasn’t he?” “Yes,” said the boy. “Now,” said the lawyer, “just tell the court how your father told you to testify.” “Well,” said Walter, simply, “father told me the lawyers would try to tangle me in my testimony. If I would just be careful and tell the truth, I could tell the same thing every time.” That lawyer didn’t try to tangle the boy’s testimony any more!

“Truth gives a short answer; lies go round about.
For truth needs nothing to help it out.”

2. Faking It: A false witness will utter lies. “Truth is beautiful, but men scratch her face for they love her not.” Does this disregard for truth not come from the father of lies (Jn. 8:44), who breathes (meaning of utter) his lies into the deceitful hearts of men who welcome them? In spite of taking the Oath to tell “nothing but the truth,” it is just a given that most witnesses lie! The foul deed, instigated by Jezebel against faithful Naboth, through the use of false witnesses, is written in letters of blood, her own, as well as Naboth’s (1 Kg. 21:10, 13; 2 Kg. 9:33). Witnesses, faking the evidence, were also used in the attempt to bring a charge against Jesus (Mt. 26:60-61). A lying Christian, however, is both a false witness and a falser Christian. Jesus exposed all sham, all pretense, all hypocrisy (Mt. 23), and so must His followers (Pr. 21:28; Acts 5:1-4). Bridges applies this also to “a minister of God in his commission” but who is “a minister of Satan in his work” (2 Cor. 11), delivering lying messages, and subverting the Gospel of Christ (Gal. 1:7).

If you your lips would keep from slips,
Five things observe with care
Of whom you speak, to whom you speak,
And how, and when, and where.

Thought: “Truth is the best buckler” (Ps. 91:4; Eph. 6:14)

Prayer: Lord, preserve me in Thy Truth.